Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Antiquities and Modern and Contemporary Fine Arts | June 2015

M.F. Pithawala 26 October 1872 – 1937 Portrait Oil on paper pasted on board, 1926 S/d in English ‘M.F.Pithawala 1926’ l.r. 28.5 x 22.4 in (72.5 x 56.8 cm) Provenance Formerly from the Collection of Manvendra Singh Gohil of the Rajpipla Royal Family & the Lakshya Trust ` 1,200,000 – 1,800,000 US$ 20,000 – 30,000 GBP 12,000 – 18,000 ‘M.F. Pithawala was one of the greatest portrait painters of modern Indian art. Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai, a foremost philantropist & industrialist of his time, gifted funds to set up the Sir J.J.School of Art.His intention was that: “Under proper guidance, the people of India would attain a degree of proficiency in painting and sculpture which would lead to an extended taste for such objects…[and] would enable India once more to take up an advanced position among manufacturing countries of the world.”’ (From J. Jijibhai’s letter to the Governor of Bombay [dt. 9.5.1853) – Partha Mitter rpt. in Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850-1922: Occidental Orientations, 1994. p387. Properties (Lots 21-25 & Lots 63-65) formerly from the Collection of Manvendra Singh Gohil of the Rajpipla Royal Family & the Lakshya Trust Part I For Illustrative Reference Only 21 56